Garden of Stone
by Sincerely from Anonymous
Summary: She'd expected fluffy clouds and harps and angels singing hallelujah for the foreseeable future. What she got was vastly different. OC/SI


**The Garden of Stone**

Summary: She'd expected fluffy clouds and harps and angels singing hallelujah for the foreseeable future. What she got was vastly different. OC/SI

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I do own the most adorable pug in existence though.

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><p><em>I will not ask you where you came from<em>

_I will not ask you, neither should you._

~ Hozier "Like Real People Do"

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><p><strong>Prologue: The Garden<strong>

She was there again. Sitting as always in that too still way, shaded above her in the trees. For as long as Mei had come alone, she had been there. Maybe even before. She never asked, and the girl never offered.

Only the first few times had she turned to stare up at the other, trying to catch a glimpse of the strange child that preferred the Garden and its quiet solitude to the bustles of the street markets and shrieking children and games and noises of life. The shadows of the trees, though, somehow always seemed to be wrapped around her and Mei never had caught a clear look of her face.

It was okay. The company was nice, and not many people came to tend to the garden any more. There used to be others that came with her, her mother and father and her aunt who would always complain and drag her feet. But Auntie would always have the softest smiles touching her face as she laid the freshest and brightest flowers on the ground in front of the smallest stones so she knew that the woman had loved the garden as much as she did.

Now it was her job alone and she was grateful that she did not have to bear it that way as well. The girl never came down to spread the new flowers, but she hadn't expected her to. That was Mei's role. She sat in the tree and kept her silent company. In the beginning it might have been just a small hope, but now she was certain that it was her way of showing her appreciation for Mei's work.

It was hard work to tend to her family's Garden.

With a soft smile she rested the last of the flowers in front of the grey stone. The marker was near the beginning of the rows, and near the front of its line. Normally she would have worked her way through the seven lines starting at the front and tending to them methodically one at a time, one after the other.

This was the anniversary, though, and Mei always thought that she should treat her parents with special care on this day, saving the brightest flowers to tend to their part of the Garden last. Sitting on her knees, she bent her head low in respect.

"Why do you call it a garden?"

Mei startled at the voice. It was not the first time they had spoken to each other, but it happened so rarely that she had just come to expect the comforting silence between them. The other times had been to exchange a few pleasantries or stories – oddly enough no names had been mentioned. It might have been slightly rude, but the girl didn't seem concerned and Mei wasn't at all. She turned to look over her shoulder towards the tree line, up where the girl usually sat.

Mei blinked.

Bright emerald eyes gazed at her with curiosity under a shock of raven hair as she leaned forward on the branch where she sat with her legs crossed, chin propped up on hands with elbows resting on her knees.

She was young, younger than Mei had expected. Maybe five? And she did not recognize her at all. Granted Mei had very little contact beyond her little section of the village, but she had tended to the Garden once a week for a couple years now and the other was there every time. The tiny clearing was out of the way as well, surrounded by tall Hashirama trees a little less than a mile into the wooded area near the border of the village. With those facts in mind, Mei had at least expected her to be part of her small community, those aware of her family's small, but proud, job to be able to find the place and continue to be here every time.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Mei blinked again, brought from her thoughts as the girl shrugged. "It just seemed a little weird to me, is all."

"Oh no, it's alright," she quickly replied, standing and brushing off any stray grass that clung to her kimono. "I don't mind at all." She walked towards the tree where she sat, nestling on the ground against its bark so she wouldn't have to speak quite so loud for her to hear. "It is called the Garden, not just a garden. It was a special title given to it by my family when we were asked to care for these grounds."

She could hear soft thumps as the other gave a soft hum in reply, probably her feet now swinging to land against the bark. Mei continued, "According to my grandmother, this clearing used to be an actual garden from before Konoha was even founded, full of beautiful blooming flowers. This was before the first Hokage had grown the forests from the ground to shield our village. It was here that he stood, along with his brother and the other founding members, to create the forest. He loved the garden that grew here and so began here, creating the trees around the flowers to create the Garden's grove."

Mei remembered this tale fondly, memories of her grandmother's soft voice and faraway blue eyes as she wove a beautiful cadence to the story. She had neither her grandmother's skill with storytelling, nor the exact wording of the story itself, but she loved it well enough to know how to share it.

The girl spoke again, closer this time, "But why did the Garden become a cemetery if it was so beautiful?" Mei glanced up. She was closer now, sitting on a lower branch with feet swinging and almost brushing her head where Mei sat on the ground, a thoughtful look on her childish face.

Pointing, Mei said, "Do you see that stone in the very back to the farthest right?" She nodded and Mei smiled, proud. "That is the very first ninja to die as a leaf shinobi. The Hokage began the village here, he wanted to return those first few fellow brothers and sisters to his dream of peace to where it all started. To this place of beauty where they could finally have their own peace, no matter which clan they were from. Senju, Uzumaki, Uchiha, and many other ninja from many clans all rest here in harmony – a symbol of the new life of the village even in their death. My family, as the caretakers, are the only others to be allowed to be buried in the Garden."

Her eyes swept over the rows of grave markers with a sort of proud fondness. Though they were indeed old, the writings and markings on each of them were still clearly legible, the stone smooth, and the grounds tended. The flowers bordering the gravesite were there naturally, and had never needed up keeping, but fresh new flowers were always placed on each grave each week. "My family was chosen to care for the Garden. My great-grandfather took care of it first, then passed it my grandmother, my grandmother to my father, and my father to me."

She had dearly loved the Garden from when she three and had first been told its tale, and she was now thirteen. Mei loved what it stood for, and the peace she felt she looked upon each name and felt a sense knowing each of the long buried heroes of the leaf.

"You sound proud," the girl scoffed.

Mei turned to frown at her, brow furrowed in confusion as she saw the shuttered look on the other's face. She'd almost sounded… like she was judging her. No, maybe not judging, but certainly harsh and even cold. "Why shouldn't I be?" She asked back, a bit miffed.

The girl looked at her, slightly bewildered and as if she had just asked something fairly stupid. This time Mei huffed, cheeks puffed out in annoyance with her arms crossed. They'd never spoken for long before, sure, but she'd never expected this sort of conversation to come from the girl who had so diligently sat and watched while she tended to the Garden for little over two years now.

"It's a graveyard," she said slowly. "They're all dead."

Mei nodded. "Yes, and?"

"What's the point?"

Now Mei was confused. It was not only tradition, but considered revered work to care for the graves of the dead. Why wouldn't she be proud of her job? "What do you mean 'what's the point'? It's only right to show respect and care for the dead. Haven't you seen any of the other gravesites? Surely people care for those ones too?"

"Sure, but you come out here every week on your own and weed and dust and take care of the gravestones for hours. I've never seen anyone else take care of a graveyard as often or as well as you do."

Mei felt pride well in her chest at the comment, even though she suspected it wasn't meant to be a compliment. She didn't mind, her mother had taught her to always look for the best in every action taken and every word spoken. '_There are enough people that get offended over every little thing they think is an insult to them in this world, Mei. We need more who look for the best_'.

"I do my best to care for all of these gravestones, because they all deserve the care," Mei replied. "It is a lot of hard work, especially by myself, but I wouldn't trade it for the world."

"There's always going to be more graves, though," the green eyed girl insisted once more, "and they're all just gonna get dirty again. I've never seen anyone but you come out here either. Why bother cleaning them all up then?" There was more than a simple childish command in her voice, at least it seemed that way to Mei.

So for a long moment, she thought. Mei looked out over the gravestones, eyes barely catching the writing on the very first. Then she followed each row to the last marker and its writing. Mei looked over them and thought of her father and her grandmother and her great-grandfather. With a small smile, she finally said, "I suppose it's because I like to remember."

Mei tilted her head to watch the other intently in the trees as something flickered in those brilliantly bright green eyes just for a moment, grateful suddenly that she could see her in the light. For some reason or another, this really seemed to be important to the girl. At last she looked straight at Mei, that certain something burning in the gaze. "Does it hurt to remember your parents here? To remember the rest of your family here?" she asked softly, but with a strange sort of demand mixed into the query. Demand for what, Mei didn't know.

Nonetheless, she answered.

"Yes," the child seemed startled by her blunt tone. Mei could hardly believe it herself, really. She'd never truly spoken to her extended family about her duties to the Garden, or how hard it still was some weeks, however few now, to look at her parents' own stones and just… continue down the line, one gravestone after another. A few times, shortly after their death and only to her own mind, she'd wished the Garden would simply fade away, wished that she could just give up and stop going. Surely there were others who would take on the duty? Then she'd remember her father's pride in his work, and remember her grandmother's soft stories.

Looking at the girl above her, Mei wondered why it seemed so vital for the girl in the tree to know her answer. Why she was even curious at all about a relative stranger taking care of a graveyard who'd hardly spoken more than a handful of times to her. In her heart, though, she somehow felt she already knew, even without really understanding.

"It hurt very much to take care of them the first few weeks," she plucked idly at the grass while she spoke. "Sometimes it still does. And it hurts to know that there will always be more. I will be there one day, next to my family. But," here she smiled and in a moment of childishness tugged on the leg dangling above her, the child tumbling down to land somewhat softly beside her as she tucked her under one arm, snuggled close, "Someday someone else will be taking care of these stones, though, and I hope it makes them as proud as it does me to look at them and remember. Remember who these people were, what they fought for, what their stories were."

Mei gently grasped the chin of her vigilant companion of two years, trying her best to convey some message that she seemed to need to hear. "I will always be happy and proud to care for the Garden because I know there will always be someone after me to look at them and feel the same and remember."

They sat there together underneath the wide branches of the tree for the rest of the day as the light slowly faded into dusk, and Midori listened to the girl who had tucked her into her side and shared all of the stories she knew of the brave men and women who now lied beneath their stone markers in the ground.

Midori Uchiha listened and thought of her own family, now gone and far away in a life different to what she knew. She sat and thought that maybe it wouldn't hurt so much to remember them, even if no one else ever knew about them, and learn to love her new life in this strange world.

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><p>AN: Okay, so please don't hate me for starting this! I have been re-reading over MM so much lately and trying to restart it up again. I feel so bad that's its been over a year. I've been reading all sorts of SI/OC fics for Naruto lately and, even though I have absolutely no idea where I'm going with this, I really wanted to give it a try! I'm just posting this up now to see what the response is. Believe me I haven't given up on MM! In fact, recently I've been working on the next chapter so have no fear, it has not died! That and I've got a good bit of the next chapter for this story hashed out to work on if you guys are interested in Midori. She's not really an SI, but there are a lot of things and beliefs that I'm taking from my own perspective and using for her so... let me know what you guys think! Also I'm not huge on writing female characters because I kind of suck at it, ironically enough, so hold out with me while I figure crap out.

Also, this introduction my seem super confusing, but if you want me to continue it'll be cleared up with the next chapter!


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